David Cameron is exceptionally good at big, decisive announcements, but much
less good at following up on them

Call it the Crosby Effect. In recent days, the Conservative Party has been starting to sound – well, almost conservative. An expensive, nanny-statish plan to put cigarettes in plain packets has been dropped. The decision to stop giving international aid to South Africa, on the grounds that it doesn’t need it, was trailed by William Hague at megaphone volume. And the Prime Minister has let it be known that he might be prepared to bring forward legislation setting up his promised referendum on Britain’s relationship with the European Union in this parliament rather than the next. Anyone would think there was an election on.

In terms of the referendum suggestion, this is more than welcome – not least since it could well flush out Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, whose terror of giving the British people a say on this issue is almost palpable. It is part of a process that Lynton Crosby, the Prime Minister’s new strategist, describes as “getting the barnacles off the boat”: forcing the Government to concentrate on a few, big, popular issues rather than being distracted by tinkering for tinkering’s sake.

Of course, there is a certain amount of spin involved. The £19 million in aid to South Africa is a rounding error within the Department for International Development’s budget, which is still swelling with Brownite rapidity. Another potential problem has more to do with the character of Mr Crosby’s employer than with the Australian himself. David Cameron is exceptionally good at big, decisive announcements – such as his initial promise of an EU referendum. He is much less good about engaging in the dogged work of following up on them. It is always possible that, after his EU speech in January, he plunged Whitehall into a frenzy of behind-the-scenes activity, as he and his officials tried to work out exactly what powers could be returned, and what deals could be done. But from the outside, the Coalition’s cherished review of EU competences is making only leisurely progress; the same could be said of Mr Cameron’s discussions with his fellow EU leaders.

What has fed Ukip’s recent success has not, in any event, been Euroscepticism, or even Europhobia. It is a more general hostility towards politics and politicians, who are seen as failing to connect to or deliver for the public. In terms of Europe, one could cite Mr Cameron’s earlier decision to break his “cast-iron guarantee” of a vote on the Lisbon treaty. This was a pragmatic step, but it still broke faith with the voters. Under Mr Crosby’s guiding hand, the Prime Minister has sharpened up both his positioning and his priorities. But the public, and his party, will be less than forgiving if he makes a habit of raising their expectations, only to dash them again.